ADDIS ABABA (ENA) – The Ministry of Health announced that the second generation rural health extension program has been started in over 1,600 health posts throughout the country, the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reports.
According to the report, the beginning of the second generation rural HEP was disclosed at the 21st Health Sector Annual Review Meeting opened on 15th October 2019 in Addis Ababa.
The second generation rural HEP includes upgrading health extension workers (HEWs) to level four community health nurses, renovation and expansion of health posts. The program also embraces equipping and supplying health posts with the necessary equipment and supplies, shifting basic services to the community level and institutionalizing the WDA platform.
Addressing the Meeting, the Minister of Health, Dr. Amir Aman said the second generation health extension program mostly focuses on creating quality in health service and infrastructure development in rural areas. So far, trainings have been given for over 23,000 health extension workers to upgrade their professional status from level three to four in order to implement the program effectively, he said.
Dr. Amir noted that the HEP will be used as a key priority to achieve major plans of the ministry. Ethiopia will continue to be model country for the rest of the world by attaining the second generation HEP, he added.
The health extension program is planned to create quality in health services and infrastructure program, according to the Minister, adding that “a study has conducted to identify what was missed during the implementation of the first generation health extension program.”
In this regard, the identified problems of the first generation HEP will be discussed on the 21st Health Sector Annual Review Meeting.
You can read the overview of the second generation HEP by clicking here.
Source: ENA